Community bulletin board

Volume 5, Issue 5 — 2009-01-31 Large portion of articles are orphans News and notes: Ogg support, Wikipedia Loves Art, Jimbo honored Wikipedia in the news: Flagged Revisions, Internet Explorer add-on Dispatches: In the news WikiProject Report: Motto of the Day Features and admins Bugs, Repairs, and Internal Operational News The Report on Lengthy Litigation Archives·Newsroom·Tip line·Single-page·Subscribe Episode 69: Sixth Sense A (big) roundtable on some of the recent studies on WP: Are we grumpy?; A scientific journal requires WP articles; Admin uses powers to help test cheats; and a Philosopher finds that Wikipedia has good “epistemic consequences”. Subscription · Feedback · Talk to us on skype! WikiVoices Next Conversation: you can join in! Latest: Episode 39 Jan 15th 2009 A video special! SJ discusses 'One Laptop per Child'

Notices

• Are you an advanced wiki-tool user? I'm looking for editors adept in the use of WP:AWB, WP:WikEd, and/or WP:LINKY to help out on a big (247-page) project. Please contact User:The Transhumanist.
• There are only 8 articles left in Category:Articles that may contain original research since January 2007. Can you fix one of these articles?
• Work is underway for Darwin Day 2009 on Wikipedia, with plans to create new articles for "Did you know" in time to hit the Main Page on February 12, the 200th anniversary of Darwin's birth.
• A discussion over Flagged revisions is still ongoing. As this could affect almost every Wikipedian, your input would be appreciated.
• The Wikipedia Loves Art event is a scavenger hunt and free content photography contest among museums and cultural institutions worldwide and will run for the whole month of February 2009. (Check for an event in your area)
• In preparation for the Wikimedia-wide re-licensing proposal, an informative FAQ has been posted to Meta-Wiki, explaining the issues involved in migrating from the GFDL to Creative Commons licensing.

Project pages seeking contributors

Discussions

Discussions in the following areas have requested wider attention:

See also

Help out

Wikipedia is, by number of articles, the largest encyclopedia ever to exist. However, many articles are stubs, or otherwise need attention. If you like, go ahead, be bold, and jump right in. If you are not ready to fly solo, you can participate in a Collaboration.

Things to do

• Assess articles by quality or by importance - pick a topic of interest and grade according to that WikiProject's scale. (See links from article talk pages.)
• Respond to a request for comment, Wikiquette alert or provide a third opinion.
• Adopt a basic topic list, to help develop and maintain a table of contents to a major subject on Wikipedia.
• Give a requested editor review.
• Can you draw or take pictures? Make a requested image.
• Peer review or give feedback on some articles.
• Make recommendations on articles listed at Good article reassessment.
• Respond to the Reward board or Bounty board.
• Are you good at photo editing? Then try cleaning up some of these images, or helping out at the Graphics Lab.
• Can you use GIS tools? Help make requested maps.
• Can you communicate in another language? There are articles that need translation into English. You can also proofread a translation.
• Let SuggestBot suggest pages for you to improve.
• Update pages with old (ref or note template) citations to the new references format.
• Patrol new pages and help improving new articles.
• Frequent IRC user, or a wikignome? Visit WikiProject Spotlight to join in on their latest collaboration.
• Category:Wikipedia backlog always needs attention.

Fix-up projects

Open tasks

Here are some tasks you can do:

• Wikify: Integrated instrumentation system, Tuscan gorgia, Vladimirskiy rozhok, Townswomen's Guild, Vihangamyoga, Trade dress, More...
• Copyedit: Islam in Burma, Southern Caribbean, Sri Lankan Tamil Dramas, Shajapur District, Mobutu Sese Seko, Neighborhoods in Seattle, More...
• Update: Legal history of wills, Kum-tagh Desert, Karl Ullmann, Animal worship, Geography of Tibet, Calvinistic Methodists, Mohonk Lake, More...
• Style: Alaska Railroad, Generative Anthropology, Hulu, Luz Marina Zuluaga, National College of Ireland, Storsjöyran, Murari Raj Sharma, More...
• Cleanup: Churasan 3, Kevin Spencer (TV series), Wu Fei, List of Disney's 101 Dalmatians characters, The Commitments, Cincinnati Marlins, More...
• Verify: Brian Jones, Edward Brongersma, Horseshoe crab, Queens of the Stone Age contributors, LGBT tourism, List of people from Hamilton, Ontario, More...
• Neutrality: Nereus (nuclear reactor), Neowiz Games, Xhem Hasa, America's Next Top Model, Cycle 9, Dutch nationality law, Hinduism in Denmark, More...
• Original research: Ghostbusters (franchise), The Centurions (TV series), Euro-Trance, Jeff Tortora, African Unification Front, Carbon tax, Meritocracy, Entryism, Exit number, More...
• Merge: Benjamin Cory Elementary School, Ported barrel, List of places in Hawaii, SS-N-22, List of people with craters of the Moon named after them, Music of Montreal, More...
• Articles to be split: List of life peerages, Ganges and Indus River Dolphin, Culture of Egypt, Saint Denise, List of hybrid vehicles, Mala Prespa and Golo Brdo, More...
• Stubs: Pierre Robin (designer), Pierre Robin (judoka), Pierre Robin (surgeon), Actinidia polygama, Hodoscope, Aikanaka (Hawaiian mythology), More...
• Expand: Pampas, Peru, Vinnie Roslin, Parkia speciosa, Siebenaler, History of marketing, General Electric J47, More...
• Article Requests: Mount Akaishi, Abvolt, Philippine Pangolin, René Tirant, Cyclic surgery theorem, Brahmayoni Hill, Rita Lobato, Simba Rebellion, Koningsplein, Plexosarcoma, Yutaje Falls, Aurora Cave, More...
• Image Requests: Obama Castle, Black toad, Royal Veterinary College, Tunicle, Nelson Mandela Bay Metropolitan Municipality, Bimberi Peak, Amazon insects, Bargueño desk, Wellington Arts Centre, More...
• Mediation Cabal: List of Avengers members, Years of Refusal, or Help mediate an open case!

Not sure where to report a certain type of problem with article content? If it exists, it is probably listed at Wikipedia:Maintenance.

Purge

Collaborations

To improve the quality of articles that are short or lacking in detail, Wikipedia's community organizes collaborations to expand articles.

Collaborations by topic

Other collaborations

Active improvement teams

• Countering systemic bias
• Version 1.0
• Cleanup Taskforce
• Spam fighting team
• Categorization projects

WikiProjects

WikiProjects are ongoing team efforts to improve articles having to do with a particular subject, and to manage the logistics of that topic. Hundreds exist—examine the master list to find one that interests you. They are separate from, though may work with, Collaborations.

Language translation

Wikipedia is not just in English. Versions exist in many different languages. To fill in some of the English Wikipedia's gaps, we translate articles from other languages into English. You can view a list of articles that need translation from any language, or, in a few cases, by only one language (this is only available for the more popular languages).

Guidelines, help & resources

Wikipedia has many help pages, policies, and departments. Here are some of the most general. For a comprehensive list of Wikipedia's departments, see the Wikipedia department directory.

Help

• Wikipedia help – Browse help pages
• Where to ask questions

Editing

• The Manual of Style guidelines and tutorial
• How to edit a page
• Contributing
• How to write a great article
• Where to find information for articles
• A list of template messages
• What special pages are
• Tools for editing
• Request newspapers or magazines

Policies and guidelines

Wikipedia has many established policies, guidelines, conventions, and traditions. This is a very brief sampling of some of the most important; for more information, see the main policies and guidelines page. Policies and guidelines apply to both articles and how to work with fellow editors. For easy access, the shortcuts to the pages are also listed.

Article standards

Working with others

Resources

New user information

Introduction · Sandbox · Help · Adoption · What Wikipedia is not · Glossary · Account benefits · Planning school assignments

Ways to communicate

Contact (overview) · Discussion pages · Mailing lists · IRC chat · Meetups · User pages · Requests for comment · Public watchlists · Regional notice boards · Administrators' noticeboard · Requests for article feedback · Local Embassy

Community support groups and programs

Welcoming committee · Editor assistance · Wiki-adoption · Birthday Committee · Harmonious editing club · Kindness Campaign · Reach out · Stress alerts · Wikipedia awards program · Dept. of Fun · One featured article per quarter · Missing encyclopedic articles

Common procedures

Featured content · Good articles · Requests for feedback · Deleting a page (full policy) · Moving a page (naming policies) · Protecting a page (full policy) · Reverting a page · Administrator nominations (summaries) · Category-based access

How to resolve conflicts

Stay cool! · Be nice to newcomers · Alert others · Dispute resolution · Arbitration policy

Community information

About Wikipedia · Goings-on · About Wikimedia · Wikipedians · Wiki-adoption · Donations · Administrators · Babel · Culture · Games · Humor · Mottoes

Related communities

Tip of the day...

If you’ve requested an article, are waiting for an article that someone else has requested, or are concerned about a deleted article being re-created, you can add the non-existent page to your watchlist and find out when it’s created! Follow the red link, then click the “watch” tab.

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